How It All Began
by NikkiB1973
Summary: The friendship started quite by chance...Jake and Bells the beginning...set way before Twilight AU.
1. Chapter 1

**How It All Began**

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

**Prologue-Play Ball  
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Jacob clutched his new ball to his chest and glared at his older sisters. Rebecca and Rachel glared back at him. "No." He said stubbornly. "Mine."

"You are supposed to share, idiot." Rachel sneered.

"No." Jacob pouted and stamped his foot.

"Look, just give us the freaking ball, Jake." Rebecca held out her hands and tried to snatch it from him.

"Stupid girlies." Jacob poked his tongue out and suddenly darted off with the ball still clamped to his chest.

"Hey, come back here." Rachel and Rebecca called after him in unison. They began to chase him.

But Jacob was used to evading his twin sisters. He dodged around the side of the old garage that his father had bolted together with his own hands. Jacob would often use it as a den when his two best friends, Quil and Embry, came to play. Quil and Embry hated sisters too, especially Jacob's sisters. He could hear the twins moving about close by trying to track him down. They would never find him, he was good at hiding. He crouched low and waited patiently until they gave up. Rebecca and Rachel got bored easily. He heard them complaining to themselves as they finally gave in and headed back to the house. Jacob grinned triumphantly and stood up. He whirled round and dropped the ball in shock. It rolled across the ground and landed at the feet of the person who had surprised him.

It was a girl: another girl! Jacob's mouth turned down as he quickly retrieved his ball and glared at the interloper. She was the palest girl he had ever seen in his life. Her long brown hair was covering half her face as she stood awkwardly in front of him. "What are you doing?" She whispered.

"Nothing." Jacob muttered mutinously. "You can't have it."

"What?" The girl was definitely stupid.

"It's mine." Jacob said again.

"What is?" The girl was frowning now and fidgeting from one foot to the other.

"Ball." Jacob sighed dramatically and held it out to show her.

"Oh, I don't want it." The girl mumbled.

Jacob was offended. Why didn't she want the ball? It was a good ball, all new and shiny. It only had a bit of mud on it where he had dropped it. His sisters had wanted it and he knew Quil and Embry would fight with each other to hold it. This girlie was more stupid then he thought. "Ball is good. Mine."

The girl looked at him as if he was an idiot. "Um...yeah, yours. Right."

"Mine." He repeated again just in case the stupid girlie didn't understand.

"Yes...yours." The girl yanked on the ends of her hair as she looked around her. "Um...well...um...see ya." She began to edge away from him.

Jacob did not like this at all. Why did she not like his ball? He needed to know and he needed to know now. "Good ball." He called after her.

The girl stopped and glanced over her shoulder. "Um...yeah. Enjoy." She shuffled away again.

Jacob frowned in annoyance. This girlie was aggravating. He wanted praise. Everyone else had praised his ball. Well his mom and dad had anyway. His stupid sisters didn't count, but he knew Rachel and Rebecca loved his ball because they had been trying to take it away from him all morning. He marched after this strange girl and caught up with her easily.

"Are you stupid, girlie?" He asked, not unreasonably. All girls were stupid, except his mommy; his mommy was clever.

The brown haired girl stopped walking and stared at him as if he was mad. She pulled her long hair back from her face and bit her bottom lip before replying. "My name is not girlie. It is Isabella Marie Swan and I am nearly six. So there." She recited formally.

"Ishabelta?" Jacob struggled with the long name. He couldn't wrap his lips around it. "Silly name."

"So is yours." The girl with the long name retorted. "If you were my friend then you could call me Bella, but you're not, so there." She whirled round and tripped over her own feet, landing hard on her bottom.

Jacob watched as the girl with the unpronounceable name began to cry. Great! He hated tears. Well not his own tears. He often managed to squeeze them out at appropriate moments, mainly when he wanted something from his parents. Worked every time! But he hated girlie tears. He grimaced as he edged over to her. "Ishabelta..." He said cautiously.

"Bella." The girl sobbed. "MY name is Bella."

"Bells." Jacob muttered. He carefully put his precious ball down and sat down in the dirt beside the stupid girlie who had so many names.

"I want to go home." Bella cried. "Why did daddy have to bring me here? I hate the twins. They are horrible. I don't want to play..."

Jacob agreed wholeheartedly with Bells' assessment of his horrid sisters. He felt a flicker of interest in this girlie at last. "Play ball?" He offered. This was a big thing for Jacob, he never shared his stuff, especially with girls. Quil and Embry would be disgusted.

Bella rubbed her eyes making them all sore and red. "I thought you said the ball was yours."

"Mine." Jacob agreed.

Bella sighed and scrambled onto her feet, brushing the dirt from her long yellow dress. She hated yellow. Why did her dad insist on dressing her in this colour? She liked purple. She glanced at the ball; it had purple stars on it. That was a good sign. "You're Jacob." She said unnecessarily.

"Jake." Jacob hated the full version of his name. He was only ever called that by his nasty sisters and his parents when they were mad.

"Jake it is then." Bella held out her hand for him to shake.

Jacob shook her hand carefully. This girlie was very odd but he liked her better then his sisters. He picked up his ball and held it out to her. "Play ball?"

Bella finally smiled at him. It lit up her whole face, making her eyes shine. Jacob was lost. He grinned back at her. "Yes, please."

Bella followed after Jacob as he led the way back to the front yard. Jacob stopped a little way from his house and threw his precious ball over to Bells. She missed it and it dropped in the dirt. Jacob did his best not to get annoyed. Bells quickly picked up the ball and threw it back to him. It sailed right over his head and hit Rachel square on the head as she came back out of the house to investigate what all the noise was. She immediately kicked up a fuss, easy tears rolling down her face as she went to hunt down her parents.

"Jacob threw a ball at me on purpose...mommy, daddy." She screeched.

Bella's hands flew to her mouth in shock as Jacob began to laugh. It was the best thing that had happened all day. This girlie was his new best friend. Bella began to giggle too as she pictured Rachel's angry face. When the adults came outside to find out what had really happened they found Jake and Bells holding onto each other as tears of laughter rolled down their faces.

It was the beginning of their friendship...

_**A/N-thanks for reading! **_


	2. Chapter 2

**How It All Began**

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

_**A/N-thanks for the awesome reviews. Nikki :)**_

**Part One-The Yellow Sun Hat**

Rebecca passed the sun tan lotion over to her sister. Rachel snatched it from her and began to liberally spread it across her skin. It was a rare, sunny day in La Push and the twins were determined to enjoy it. They were both dressed in their pink swimsuits; a pair of matching sunglasses perched on their noses as they lay back on the picnic blanket. The hot rays of the sun warmed their skin and they both sighed simultaneously in bliss as they settled down for the morning.

Just round the corner Jacob, accompanied by his friend, Quil Ateara, finished filling up the bucket with ice cold water from the outside tap. They laughed as they hefted the heavy bucket between them and began to slowly make their way over to the twins. The water sloshed onto the ground as they waddled over to the sleeping girls. Quil had a big grin on his face as he pictured the mischief that he was about to commit. He had come up with the idea of getting back at the twins after Jacob told him about their latest attempt to snatch his new ball from him. The two miscreants sidled closer and closer until they were within inches of the girl's heads. Then they both grinned at each other as they swung the bucket and upturned the water all over Rebecca and Rachel.

The screams could be heard a mile away. Billy and his wife Sarah came running out of the house, alarmed by all the noise. "What the hell is going on?" Billy roared when he saw his two daughters screaming and crying. Jacob and his friend Quil were nowhere to be seen.

"Jake." Rebecca gasped as she swiped at the water running down her forehead from her dripping hair. "He did this."

"Mommy my swimsuit is ruined." Rachel wailed as she tried to squeeze the water out of her hair.

Sarah turned away to hide the smile that was beginning to surface. Trust Jacob! She forced herself to look serious again as she faced her daughters. "Come on inside and get dry. Your father will deal with Jake."

The twins marched inside, still dripping water and complaining that they were going to catch a chill. Sarah rolled her eyes and followed them inside while Billy went to hunt down his son. It wasn't too hard to find Jake and Quil. Billy heard them laughing and re-enacting the girl's screams. They were hidden inside the garage. He knocked on the door.

"Outside you two." He ordered the two boys.

"We not here." Came Jake's muffled reply.

"Not in." Quil echoed him.

"If you're not in how come you answered me, mmm?" Billy waited for them to figure that conundrum out.

He heard hushed whispers before the garage door was slid open a little and his son poked his head around the corner. "It was Quil." He blabbed, grassing his friend up straight away.

Billy heard Quil beginning to protest from the other side of the door. "It wasn't me."

"Was." Jake said firmly as he sidled out of the garage and faced Billy.

"Now Jake, what did I tell you about telling tales?" Billy knelt in front of his son and forced himself to look serious.

"Quil did it." Jake said stubbornly.

"Jake did it." Came Quil's voice from the doorway.

"I think you both did it. You know what that means don't you? You have to be punished."

"No." Jake stamped his foot and pouted.

Quil frowned and glared at Billy. "No."

"Oh yes." Billy grabbed both boys hands and marched them back to the house. "And you have to apologize to your sisters, Jake."

Jacob was horrified. Apologize to his sisters? He was scandalized. Never, not in a million, zillion years. He soon forgot this vow when Sarah threatened to send him to bed without his dinner. Jacob's stomach rumbled instantly. He had a hearty appetite. Nothing would separate him from food, not even being forced to apologize to his awful sisters. Quil was sent home and they were both told they would not be able to play together for a week. Jacob didn't care, he had a new friend and she was going to be coming along later that day with Charlie Swan. Jacob didn't bother to wave goodbye to Quil when his mom, Joy, came to collect him. His head was filled with plans of what he and Bells would be doing later that day.

* * *

><p>Bella sighed irritably as Charlie showed her the new yellow sun dress that he had bought for her. He lay it on the sofa and smiled proudly. "Isn't it nice, kiddo?"<p>

"Can I wear my jeans? Please daddy." Bella begged.

"Don't be difficult, Bells. We are going to be visitors in the Black's house. Sarah is making us dinner so we need to dress for the occasion. Look I bought you a sun hat to match and a little bag." Charlie held up the yellow straw hat and the plastic yellow bag.

Bella tried to hide her disgust at the outfit. She would look like a yellow blob, a glowing, walking yellow blob. She hated yellow. She snatched the outfit from her dad and stalked off, tripping a little as she headed up the stairs to change. Charlie watched his daughter leave the room. He scratched his head in bewilderment, he just didn't understand his young daughter. Didn't all six year old girls like bright colors? He certainly thought Bella looked very smart in yellow. Perhaps Bells was feeling grouchy today. He remembered his ex wife, Renee's, moods and shuddered. It would be better when they were at the Black's. Bella could play with the twins, she would like that. Charlie cheered up at this thought, already thirsting for the beer that he knew Billy would have waiting for him. He followed Bella up the stairs to check that she was getting ready.

* * *

><p>"You look like a bee, a busy, busy bee...buzzzz." Rebecca jeered as she skipped around Bella.<p>

"What is this you are wearing on your head?" Rachel laughed as she grabbed hold of Bella's sun hat and threw it up in the air.

"Jeez, you are so bright you're hurting my eyes, busy bee." Rebecca made the buzzing sound again as Bella began to cry. The adults had sent her outside to play with the two girls, and they had done nothing but torture her. Jacob was in his room. He had been sent there earlier that day for eating his sisters lunch as well as his own.

"Aww the baby bee is beginning to cry. Waahhhh!" Rachel sneered as she stomped on Bella's hat and flattened it.

Bella hung her head to hide her tears. She wished she had never come to Forks to visit her dad. She wished she had never worn the stupid dress and hat. She wished that she was back home with her mommy, even if Renee ignored her half the time. She raised her head when she suddenly heard the twin's screaming. To Bella's astonishment, Rachel and Rebecca's hair was covered in filthy mud. Huh? The two older girls began to cause a scene as they wailed loudly. Bella finally noticed Jacob standing nearby, an empty bucket in his hand. He was laughing at his sisters as they tantrumed.

"Did you do that?" Bella whispered as she walked over to Jacob's side.

Jacob nodded eagerly. They both heard the sound of the front door opening and the adults coming out to investigate. Jacob quickly grabbed Bella's hand and yanked her after him as he made his escape. When Billy, Charlie and Sarah came outside, they found two filthy looking girls and a crushed sun hat pressed into the dirt.

_**A/N-thanks for reading! **_


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